Video: Where is mystery heiress?

Transcript of: Where is mystery heiress?

MATT LAUER, co-host:We're back now at 8:20 with a mansion mystery. Where's the owner of a $100 million
California
estate that's been lovingly cared for but empty for nearly half a century? Here's NBC's
Bob Dotson
.

BOB DOTSON reporting:It's called
Bellosguardo
,
Beautiful View
, and you can see why. Perched over the
Pacific
in
Santa Barbara
, it looks like it's waiting for someone who has gone off for the weekend. Wow, these are pretty roses. But the owner hasn't been seen in
Santa Barbara
since
Barbara Dorin
was a kid.

Ms. BARBARA DORIN:It's like "
The Secret Garden
" and "
Nancy Drew
" all rolled up into one.

DOTSON:Dorin
's dad took care of the place for 50 years. Most of that time, caretakers were the only ones living on this 23-acre estate. If a six-year-old plays hide-and-seek
in a place like this
, she may never be found.

Ms. DORIN:Unless she wants to be found.

DOTSON:Same with the sole owner, 104-year-old
Huguette Clark
. This is the last known photo of one of the most secretive and wealthiest women in
America
. Her belongings fill 42 rooms in the largest apartment on
New York
's prestigious
Fifth Avenue
overlooking
Central Park
, but the staff has only seen her a few times in the past 30 years. She's not at her sprawling
Connecticut
estate either.
Andre Baeyens
,
Huguette
's great-half-nephew, says she bought it back during the
Cold War
, but never moved in.

Mr. ANDRE BAEYENS:Everything stopped for her when her mother died.

DOTSON:Her life stopped, too.

Mr. BAEYENS:She didn't want to go out, no, no, she just would be at home and play with her dolls.

DOTSON:Huguette
gave them as gifts to children of friends around the world. Once, she bought two first-class seats to
Paris
and sent her personal physician along to see that the doll arrived safely. One of
Huguette
's companions figured the doll probably ended up in the overhead bin so the doctor could take his wife.

The reclusive heiress had no children of her own, but:She would invite me over to have tea in the afternoon.

Ms. DORIN:The little girl who hid in the garden, like her.

DOTSON:I have a great picture that she took of me.

Ms. DORIN:With a
Polaroid camera
, one of the world's first instant pictures. What was
Huguette
like?

DOTSON:Very warm, very giving.

Ms. DORIN:Why would someone so giving hide herself away? Perhaps she grew tired of living life in the headlines. Her father,
Former Montana Senator William Clark
, was 62 when
Huguette
was born. Her mother,
Anna
, 23. No record of their marriage was ever found. Society buzzed. But
Clark
was rich as
Rockefeller
, so he set them up in a
Fifth Avenue
mansion that cost three times more than the original
Yankee Stadium
.
Huguette
inherited a fortune in railroad cars, copper mines, cattle, timber and banks. Her dad also owned the land that would one day be known as
Las Vegas
. But it was here in
Santa Barbara
that she began backing away from all that, retreating from the world after a brief marriage. Her husband,
William Gower
, was a bank clerk making 30 bucks a week. She told her friends great wealth was a menace to happiness. So was
Edward Fitzgerald
, the
Duke of Leinster
, who told a British bankruptcy court he came to
America
looking for a
rich wife
.

DOTSON:It's a sad thing, it's a sad thing. When I think about it, it's awful, awful.

Mr. BAEYENS:The duke denied newspaper reports that
Huguette
and he were a couple, but she stepped into the shadows for good.

DOTSON:She's still alive. She's still alive.

Mr. BAEYENS:In
New York City
, he said. My colleague,
Bill Dedman
,
MSNBC.com
's investigative reporter, tracked her to a hospital.

DOTSON:It's drab. Patient names written on a -- on a board in the hallway. It couldn't be more ordinary.

BILL DEDMAN reporting:She's doing fine, her attorney says, but wants to be left alone. So we will not reveal the hospital's location.
Huguette
was born to great wealth in a gilded age. She's lived her long life in a gilded cage. There are no heirs to her vast fortune. What will happen to it is a mystery, like the life she lives. For TODAY,
Bob Dotson
,
Santa Barbara
, California.

DOTSON:You know, it just goes -- you know, you can have everything and it's not enough.

It's called Bellosguardo: “Beautiful view.” But driving by, you can barely see it: It hides behind high walls, bookending the southern tip of Santa Barbara, Calif. A $100 million mansion perched on a bluff overlooking the Pacific, immaculately maintained, as if waiting for someone who has gone off for the weekend.

But the owner hasn't been seen here since Barbara Doran lived on the estate as a child. “It’s like ‘The Secret Garden,’ ” said Doran, now 65. “ ‘The Secret Garden’ and Nancy Drew, all rolled up into one.”

Doran’s dad was manager of two of the owners’ properties for 50 years. Barbara lived in the manager’s cottage, and explored the 23-acre estate with a child’s curiosity.

“I loved to play in Andrée's cottage,” she said, referring to a children's playhouse on the estate. “It had a little settee and tea service. The roof was made of thatch. Sometimes my friends and I would sneak into the empty mansion, put on little white booties—”

“Why?” I interrupted.

“Because of the parquet floors! Nobody walked on those parquet floors in the mansion; they were pristine, fabulous. There was also a fantastic music room, two stories high, that looked out over the ocean.”

“How many people did it take to keep the mansion in order?” I wondered.

“If a 6-year-old plays hide-and-seek up there,” I laughed, referring to the 23 acres of manicured gardens, “she’ll never be found.”

“Not unless she wants to found!” Barbara giggled.

Nobody home
And the same goes for the mansion’s owner, Huguette Clark. Her belongings fill 42 rooms in the largest apartment on New York’s Fifth Avenue, but the staff has only seen her a few times in the past 30 years.

She’s not at her Connecticut estate, either. André Baeyens, Huguette’s great-half-nephew, says she bought it back during the Cold War, but never moved in. “Everything stopped for her when her mother died.”

Huguette’s mother, Anna E., was 39 years younger than Huguette’s father, Montana Sen. William Clark: He was 67 and Anna E. was 28 when Huguette was born. No record of the supposed marriage five years earlier was ever found. Society buzzed, but Clark was as rich as Rockefeller, so he set her up in a Fifth Avenue mansion that cost three times more than Yankee Stadium. It was a high-tech marvel for 1910: Central air and electricity, powered by coal: Seven tons a day, brought in on Clark’s own personal subway line.

Huguette inherited a fortune in railroads, copper mines, cattle, timber and banks. Her father also owned the land that would one day become Las Vegas. But it was here in Santa Barbara that she began to turn her back on all that, retreating from the world after a brief marriage.

Poor little rich girlLike her mother’s before her, Huguette’s wedding sold a lot of newspapers. Her husband, William Gower, was a bank clerk making 30 bucks a week; Huguette spent 11 times that much every day. She confided to friends that her great wealth was a “menace to happiness,” yet she hung out with rich daredevils who drove fast cars and flew rickety planes. Her marriage lasted two years.

Huguette was later linked with Edward Fitzgerald, the Duke of Leinster, who subsequently told a British bankruptcy court he had come to America looking for a rich wife. The duke denied being engaged to Huguette, but again her life was reduced to cartoons in newspapers.

She stepped into the shadows for good. Huguette never remarried; had no children. But she struck up a friendship with the little girl who hid in the garden ... like her.

“I have a great picture that she took of me,” Barbara Doran said, pulling out an old Polaroid snapshot.

“What was Huguette like?” I asked.

“Very warm. Very giving.”

Indeed, during the Great Depression, Huguette and her mother tore down their Santa Barbara mansion and rebuilt it, just to give people jobs. Their bankers objected; too extravagant. They did it anyway.

“Society wasn’t very kind to Senator Clark,” Barbara sighed. “Huguette was going to go a different path with her life.”

A doll’s houseShe had enough money to bring the world to her. Huguette paid the head of the harp department at Juilliard to teach her the instrument her mother loved. She spent her days playing and painting landscapes — the beauty she saw behind her walls.

“She didn’t want to go out,” Andre Baeyens insisted. “She didn’t want to have beautiful things, no, no. She just wanted to be home and play with her dolls.”

Huguette sent dolls as surprises to children of friends around the world. Once she bought two first-class seats to Paris: one for a doll, and one for her personal physician to go along and see that it arrived safely. (Housekeepers figured the doll probably ended up in the overhead bin so the doctor could take his wife.)

Almost everyone who worked for Huguette had a job until they died. She sent her chauffeur out to pick up an elderly maid every day. Now she is quite old herself; she turned 104 in June.

“She’s still alive,” Andre Baeyens said. “She knows where she is. She’s not very interested in her friends, but she’s still alive.”

In New York, he said. My colleague, Bill Dedman, msnbc.com’s investigative reporter, tracked her to a hospital.

“I had imagined she’s in a three-room suite, a room for her caretaker, and it’s elegant,” Dedman recalled. “I found that part of the hospital. They looked her up in the computer and they said, ‘No, she’s not here. She’s down in another section.’

“I went there and it’s drab, patient names written on a board in the hallway. It couldn’t be more ordinary.”

Friends say she checked herself in to be more comfortable. “She wasn’t sick,” Dedman said. “She was reclusive. She made Howard Hughes seem outgoing.” To keep her safe, we will not reveal the hospital’s location.

Huguette Clark was born to great wealth in a gilded age. She’s lived her long life in a gilded cage. There are no heirs to her vast fortune. What will happen to it is a mystery — like the life she lives.

The TODAY show would like to thank the caretakers of two other legendary Santa Barbara locations for their help in filming this story:

Mystery heiress

Taken in 1930, this is the last known photo of Huguette Clark. Her father, a senator and copper magnate, may have been as rich as John D. Rockefeller. But though her magnificent properties continue to be immaculately maintained, Huguette Clark herself has not been seen in decades.
(AP)
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A girl and her doll

Huguette Clark with one of her prized dolls around 1910. Doll collecting became a lifelong passion for the reclusive heiress.
(William Andrews Clark Memorial Library)
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Magnificent mansion

Huguette's father, William A. Clark, was as rich as Rockefeller, so he set her up in a Fifth Avenue mansion that cost three times more than Yankee Stadium.
(New York Historical Society.)
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High tech, 1910 style

Inside the childhood home of Huguette Clark. The Fifth Avenue mansion was a high-tech marvel for 1910, with electricity and central air conditioning. Powering it required seven tons of coal per day, brought in by the Clarks' private subway line.
(The New York Times)
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School days

In this 1925 class portrait from Miss Spence's School, Huguette Clark is sitting second from left in the front row. She confided to friends that her great wealth was a "menace to happiness."
(New York Historical Society)
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High society

Huguette (far left) was a prominent New York socialite during the 1920s, often attending parties at the Pierre and Plaza Hotels. But after 1931, she disappeared from the society pages.
(The Salt Lake Tribune)
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Lavish lifestyle

Huguette's great wealth drew attention to her from newspapers of the day. This 1928 cartoon portrays "A Day in the Life of Little Huguette Clark."
(International Feature Service, Inc.)
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Huguette's husband William M. Gower. Huguette paid William $30 a week. Her inherientance gave her $333 a day. They divorced within two years. Source: Selley G. Mudd Manuscript Library
()
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Headline divorce

Daredevil duke

Rumored to be engaged to Huguette in 1931, Edward Fitzgerald, the Duke of Leinster, was well-known in society pages as the "Daredevil Duke." He enjoyed yachting and gambling.
(The Corsicana Daily Sun)
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Dis-engaged

In 1931, it was reported that Huguette Clark might be engaged to the Duke of Leinster. However, the duke denied the rumors, and the marriage never happened.
(The Oelwein Daily Register)
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Wooing wealth

The Duke of Leinster told a bankruptcy judge in 1936 that he came to America to woo a wealthy heiress. Huguette Clark, apparently, didn't take the bait.
(Syracuse Herald)
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A summer place

Huguette Clark's Bellosguardo estate in Santa Barbara circa 1940. The property was built as a summer home for Huguette and her mother.
(Santa Barbara Historical Society.)
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Empty halls

Huguette's Santa Barbara estate "Bellosguardo" as seen today. Though the property continues to be maintained by caretakers, the elusive heiress has not visited here since 1958.
(Amanda Marshall. / NBC News)
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Ocean view

Nobody home

Huguette Clark's New York apartment today includes the entire 8th floor and half the 12th floor. She has not been seen here for over 20 years, but her belongings remain.
(Amanda Marshall. / NBC News)
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